PlayStation Plus/Negative

Having announced their new subscription service at E3 last week, Sony have this week followed up the unveiling of PlayStation Plus with a firm run through of the services cost, features and other notable bits and pieces.

In an update posted to the Official European PlayStation Blog, PlayStation Plus looks all set to deliver a range of content to users in return for your monies and/or soul. Or something. Full run down and some opinions (hint – I’m not exactly jumping for joy over this) after the break.

So what’s the deal? According to the announcement, the key points are:

Subscriptions will come in two different flavors; 90 days for £11.99 ($17.99) and a full year for £39.99 ($49.99)

Service goes live on 29 June 2010

Playing games online will remain free

Free copy of LittleBigPlanet for anyone who signs up before 03 August 2010

The problem I have with PlayStation Plus is that to me it smacks of Sony trying to respond to what they perceive to be demand for a certain service, but totally missing the point of what makes that service so good in the first place. In this instance, that particular service happens to be Xbox Live.

What seems like a glaringly obvious omission from Sony’s press releases about PlayStation Plus is any word on how the company plan on improving the back end of the PlayStation Network itself. It’s for this reason why I think Sony are missing the point with the introduction of this particular subscription service. When people moan about online gaming on PlayStation 3, it’s not because of a lack of free stuff. People generally don’t pay Microsoft an annual fee for early access to demo’s or a slew of dashboard themes. People pay for Xbox Live because the service just works. I’m happy to pay for Xbox Live because I have confidence in Microsoft’s online infrastructure and ability to deliver a stable, competent gameplay environment, which they have achieved since the console launched almost without exception. I don’t feel like I can say the same about PlayStation Network, even for a free service.

I’m also a little dubious with regards to Sony’s stance on running a free service. Although Cross Game Chat won’t be coming straight away with PlayStation Plus, the current general consensus seems to point to the fact that when it does arrive, it will do so exclusively to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Perhaps I’m being overly skeptical, but to me this sounds as though the foundations are being laid for a dangerous precedent. Presumably, standard users (or Cheap Ass Scum, as will be referred to from here on in) and Plus subscribers will share the same servers online, which begs the question about both Cross Game Chat and future updates causing divisions between player bases. Are Cheap Ass Scum gamers going to be pushed into paying for gameplay additions or service features that are only available to subscribers, just to keep up with the competition?

Also, how about those games, folks? As mentioned above, you’ll not be allowed to play any of them should you dare drop your subscription. Essentially, this is a glorified rental service. Specifically, it’s a glorified rental service for games and features that Sony want you to play. Infact, I’m going to just come out and say it; this is a glorified rental service for old crap that Sony almost certainly make next to nothing on from selling anymore. Sure LittleBigPlanet is a nice gesture and WipEout HD is a superb game that deserves to be played by anyone yet to do so, but for anyone who already owns those games (which is likely, seeing as both are more than 2-bloody-years-old), there’s not an awful lot to get excited about for the opening 2 months.

Ugh. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m totally wrong, and people will flock to this in some sort of cult like quest for dynamic themes and demo’s of games that have been out for 3 months. For now however I’m happy to stick to my guns and call this is as a missed opportunity, a missed point and an excuse to peddle aging software to anyone silly enough to become tied into it for £40/$50 a year. Oh, and no sir, I won’t be subscribing.

8 Responses to PlayStation Plus/Negative

No Mat, I don’t think you’re wrong. This smacks of… bad planning. I won’t go so far as to say “greed,” because $49.99 a year isn’t a terrible price, but I hate any and all “you quit the service you lose your games” systems. That’s a ripoff. I hadn’t followed this story, and at first I was on board because I want LittleBigPlanet, but I’d rather not pay $50 a year for the rest of my life for it, thanks very much. Not when I can get it for $19 gently used.

Does any of this ever end? I want value for my money!

Mat06/26/2010

As far as I can discern from all this, LittleBigPlanet is the only game that won’t be tied to your subscription, but only because it’s an “introductory offer”. Here in the UK at least, I’m quite sure you can buy a new boxed copy of LBP for less than £12..

Not wrong at all. Sony is AGAIN putting the cart before the horse and misses out on the real reasons why XBL is such a success… Well, they don’t get my money for Playstation Plus as it is…

Gregg B06/27/2010

I thought the whole point of dropping the backwards compatibility thing a few years ago was (apparently) because the PS3 console was hardware ‘for the future’ and not for the past or something like that. But the thing is they seem quite happy wheeling out old PSOne games as if they’re valuable all of a sudden and no doubt there’ll be a few PS2 games slipping in there eventually. (For the record, I’m aware that the PS3 is backwards compatible with PS1 game discs, just not PS2)

LittleBigPlanet as well? I think it’s one of the most overrated yet utterly charming games I’ve ever played. At its heart it’s just a bollocks platformer that looks and sounds the part.

I’d love cross game chat as well. If that becomes subscription only then that’s going to piss a lot of folk off.

xtal06/27/2010

It’s very well known that XBL is a successful paid service because there are almost never latency issues (sports games not included) during online multi-play. Whereas PSN is generally considered a fair service also because you get what you pay for: nothing. Okay that’s an exaggeration; you enjoy PSN for free because up until now Sony surely were not bold enough to charge for their inferior infrastructure.

If this works (for Sony, I mean) I will point a large amount of blame on the masses who set a new, mad precedent by accepting Infinity Ward/Activision’s $15 Modern Warfare 2 map pack.

Hanover06/29/2010

My PS3 serves an an Exclusive PS3 Game player and a Blu-Ray Player…and occasionally, the “Hell got a bit cooler today and the PS3 version of the game is better” game player.

When it comes to multiplayer games, the 360 always has first priority because of how easy it is to find your friends and get into a game. Seriously, Party Chat is a wonderful invention the fact we can all move from game to game as a group is excellent. I love the avatars too because it makes it even easier to see who’s playing in the same game (and I love when they do the wave).

Sony just doesnt get it. Just look at the bland, boring interface on the PS3. You turn it on and get an orchestra hit followed by The Void(tm). Its not friendly at all.